Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I was very interested in Brigadier-General Laforest's answer earlier to a question from Mr. Chong. He said that when HMCS Vancouver and USSHiggins sailed through the Taiwan Strait was just a simple trip from point A to point B, when it was clearly a political response to the increasingly more aggressive policy of the People's Republic of China in the Taiwan Strait and the China Sea.
On that point, in fact, in an episode of 60 Minutes that was broadcast on CBS in September, President Biden stated that the American army would take measures to defend Taiwan against an “unprecedented attack”. The Hill Times reported on October 2 that Lloyd Austin, the American Secretary of Defence, had said that the United States would honour their commitment to Taiwan, but gave no further details.
What would Canada's position be in the event of a military escalation between the People's Republic of China and Taiwan?